Crystallization of rubrene on a nanopillar-templated surface by the melt-recrystallization process and its application in field-effect transistors.

We present an approach to fabricate a continuous and crystalline rubrene film using the melt-recrystallization process with the assistance of a silicon nanopillar template. Better film morphology, enhanced crystallinity, and mainly oriented crystallites with the c-axis of the orthorhombic rubrene aligning parallel to the nanopillars were obtained as compared to that on a planar substrate. The oriented crystal growth is further modulated by the surface modification. It is suggested that the sidewalls of nanopillars play a key role in mediating the switch of crystal orientation and crystal growth. The obtained nanopillar-templated rubrene film was used to fabricate a vertical field-effect transistor. The device gave a current density of 78 mA cm(-2), on-off ratio around 10(3-4), subthreshold swing of 89.1 mV per decade and transconductance of 154.9 mS cm(-2) on an ODTS-modified substrate surface.

Periodic anti-ring back reflectors for hydrogenated amorphous silicon thin-film solar cells.

Large and periodic anti-ring arrays are fabricated by using a monolayer of polymer/nanosphere hybrid technique and applied as back reflectors in substrate-type hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) thin-film solar cells. The structure of each anti-ring comprises a nanodome centered inside a nanohole. The excitation of Bloch wave surface plasmon polaritons is observed in the Ag-coated anti-ring arrays. The nanodomes of the anti-ring arrays turn out to enhance large-angle light scattering and increase the effective optical path in the solar cell. The resulting efficiency of an ultrathin a-Si:H (thickness: 150 nm) solar cell is enhanced by 39% compared to that with a flat back reflector and by 13% compared to that with a nanohole back reflector.

Quasi-3D gold nanoring cavity arrays with high-density hot-spots for SERS applications via nanosphere lithography.

Large-scale ordered arrays with dense hot spots are highly desirable substrates for practical applications such as surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS). In the past decade, most work has focused on using lateral gaps between two metal structures. However, the strength and density of the generated hot spots are limited to a 2D arrangement of nanostructures. In this work, we present a novel quasi-3D nanoring cavity structure, which contains a nanoring and a nanopillar in a nanohole. The fabrication is based on nanosphere lithography incorporated with dry etching and gold coating. Gold nanostructures with one layer (nanohole), 2 layers (nanohole + nanodisc), and 3 layers (nanohole + nanoring + nanopillar) were successfully fabricated and compared. The SERS performance of the three-layered nanostructures is about two orders of magnitude higher than the others. Finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) simulations show that incorporating nanopillars and nanorings into a nanohole array not only significantly increases the density of the hot spots but also achieves stronger electromagnetic field enhancements compared to a nanohole array. The simple fabrication of multilayered quasi-3D nanostructures provides a large-area and highly efficient SERS substrates for biological and chemical applications.

Fabrication of monolayer of polymer/nanospheres hybrid at a water-air interface.

A new type of polymer-assisted self-assembly of nanospheres at a water-air interface was uncovered. By adding merely 1-3 ppm of polyethylene oxide in the water, the polystyrene nanospheres, applicable to diameters ranging from 100 nm to 1 µm, were found to gradually move closer to each other and eventually form a close-packed structure confirmed from its diffraction pattern. As it turns out, polyethylene oxides are adsorbed onto the surface of polystyrene nanospheres, giving rise to the effective screening of coulomb repulsive force between nanospheres followed by the onset of polymer-bridging effect as demonstrated from the strong suppression of Brownian motion. The resulting monolayer of close-packed polymer/nanospheres hybrid at the water-air interface with area size more than 1 cm(2) are robust and can be transferred to a substrate of any kind without serious breaking due to surface tension tearing. Our finding may provide a further extension to the scope of nanosphere lithography technique.

Novel fabrication of Janus particles from the surfaces of electrospun polymer fibers.

A novel synthetic approach for the efficient fabrication of Janus silica particles was demonstrated by embedment of zero-dimensional colloids on one-dimensional polymer fiber surfaces, followed by the surface modification on the exposed silica hemispheres. Electrospinning of poly(methyl methacrylate) and poly(4-vinyl pyridine) blends produced polymer fibers with high specific surface area and desired surface hydrophilicities. Fiber compositions determined the colloid adsorption density and uniformity. The colloid embedding resulted from the polymer softening was manipulated by the isothermal heat treatment. Subsequent silianization completed the amino functionalities on hemispherical surfaces of embedded silica colloids. Janus particles with uniform asymmetric chemical features were further labeled with gold nanoparticles before their recovery from fiber substrates. Fabrication of Janus particles, including colloid adsorption, temperature-driven embedding, and hemispherical surface modification, were investigated and are discussed.